Workplace Diversity
“Our workforce and our entire economy are strongest when we embrace diversity to its fullest, and that means opening doors of opportunity to everyone and recognizing that the American Dream excludes no one” (Thomas Perez). In today’s society, people are surrounded by diversity. Most people come up with their own definition of this term, however, most of the time they don't include every aspect of diversity in their definition. Some people would agree that diversity is race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, socio-economic status, nationality, citizenship, religion, sexual orientation, ability and age. The quote by Thomas Perez states that people need to embrace diversity and not exclude anybody. Sadly,
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When it comes to small or big organizations, is hard to say that everyone accepts or agrees with diversity in their organizations. Some people just don't agree with the idea to incorporate diversity in their organization. However, governmental regulations are more positive than negative when it comes to the workplace and diversity. In today's society, people don't accept the fact that everyone is different, that people have different opinions, different ideas, and different ways of thinking. A lot of people can agree that when organizations incorporate diversity in their organization they can actually see a lot of positive changes among the organization and their customers. “Diversity in the workplace is far more complex than applying good and bad labels and often has both positive and negative effects. A potential benefit is an increase in creativity, but potential challenges include an increase in conflicts and a breakdown in communication” (Kravitz, Par.5). Is not easy …show more content…
Most people would agree that one of the companies that people cannot leave behind is Macy’s. The organization has been around for many years now that they do their best to achieve customer satisfaction. People say that what they love about this organization is that they always try their best to engage with their customers, for example, when christmas times approaches they make sure that they decorate the store as best as they can to satisfy the eye of their consumers. “Our commitment extends beyond our employees and our commitment to workplace diversity to reach our customers, vendors, and communities—and distinguishes us from other retailers. It's a hallmark of our company.”(State University Of New York). Macy’s knows the importance of the inclusion of diversity. They know the diversity among their customers and is a good thing because that's why they are successful. Most people love the store because of the people that work there and how nice they are to people. The don't see any downside of including diversity in their organization, all they can say is that the diversity that they are including is actually improving and putting out there their
Cañas, K. A., & Sondak, H. (2014). Opportunities and challenges of workplace diversity: Theory, cases, and exercises (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
According to McCormick (2007), the first form of workplace diversity happened in 1948, when President Truman approved Executive Order 9981 whose main purpose was to advance equal treatment and opportuities in the armed forces. Therefore, scholars cite it as the origin of workplace diversity because President Truman the committee tasked to implement the executive order, used it to pursue desegregation in the armed forces. In the business world, many companies long held the belief that the assimiltion of new recruits in an organization required their socialization to adapt to the organization’s existent culture. However, over the last few decades, business organizations have realized that because of various reasons, the orgnizational culture must conform if it must attract and maintain a competitive workforce. This change has been steered by variety of workplace diversity initiatives. Despite the proliferation of such initiatives, the term “workplace diversity” is virtually never defined. Many attempts at defining the term are often in a circular or conclusory manner that does little to strengthen a collective understanding of this term.
Generally when someone begins speaking about diversity in the workplace, thoughts of Affirmative Action, racial diversity, or even sexual equality are usually foremost in our thoughts. However, diversity in the workplace really is so much more than this, we must also consider aging workers, handicapped workers, those with alternative lifestyles, and even physical traits to name others (For the sake of simplification, throughout this paper these will usually be included in the term, minorities).
Diversity in the work place is one of the leading causes of innovation in United States’ companies (Hewlett, Sylvia Ann, Melinda Marshall, and Laura Sherbin). Some of the largest companies in the United States are also on the list of fifty most diverse work places in America, companies such as AT&T, Kellogg’s, Master Card, Wells Fargo and many more huge companies, coincidence I don’t think so. Innovation leads to economic growth, competitive advantages, and is an in important factor for businesses to thrive. With diversity in the work place everybody comes with their own way of looking at things which brings new ideas, thoughts, and process which increase productivity. Why would we destroy the great diversity that we tried so hard to get? Sounds counterproductive especially in a globally connected world that we have
14. Rice Jr., Booker (2000, May-June). Putting diversity to work: Playing on a level field. LIMRA's MarketFacts, 11(3), 38-39.
Today’s modern workforce is made up of a diverse group of individuals. People of different nationality, race, creed, color, age, sex, and sexual orientation work side by side every day. This diversity has many advantages, but it also ads a level of complexity to management. The potential for discrimination is real, and needs to be managed so as not to incur lawsuits, loss of productivity, and unhealthy working conditions. Happy employees are productive employees, so it is in any organizations best interests to ensure that discrimination does not happen, but unfortunately, it does.
Diversity is a composite of racial, gender, ethnic, nation origin, cultural, attitudinal, social-economic, and personal differences. With the many legal implications and issues surrounding every aspect of the Human Resource function, the human Resource department must be prepared to resolve issues in a timely and cost efficient manner. With the saturation of laws surrounding personnel, nearly every decision made by the Human Resource Department has the potential for legal suits. Even if the Human Resource department has done everything that is required of them, it can still be costly to defend it. That is why supervisors, managers and workers must be trained on managing diversity in the workplace.
According to researchers Frances Maher and Mary Kay Tetreault, “Privilege, in its root meaning, pertains to a law--in this case often silent and unseen--that works for or against individuals and groups” (2009). In other words, although privilege is not an object, it is real. Privilege has been demonstrated in various forms of inequality and prejudice all throughout the United States’ history. From not allowing all races to become citizens of the U.S. prior to the Fourteenth Amendment to controlling who got to vote, privilege continues to impact societies. Currently, racial privilege has had a large effect on young adults, such as those in the workforce. Here, privilege negatively affects young people by limiting their hiring opportunities,
Diversity also encompasses acceptance and respect proving that each individual is unique. It provides a safe and nurturing environment for the employee and will help the organization prosper and succeed. Diversity provides an understanding of each other and helping one to move beyond simple tolerance of embracing and celebrating the dimensions of
In today’s society there are many diverse cultures, different types of people and mindsets. Diversity is defined as different people coming together to diffuse their cultures. Diversity brings humanity together, it teaches you different things about why people do certain things and act a different way. Diversity promotes personal growth and a healthy society because it challenges stereotyped preconceptions. Nathan states, “there is no doubt that active racism also plays a part in the lack of diversity on college campuses” (Nathan 325) Racism affects diversity it is an invisible issue. No one wants to talk about race because people are not comfortable with it, especially in public, because it is such a controversial topic. In order for their to be diversity people need to talk about the real issues limiting diversity such as race and discrimination amongst people. Diversity strengthens communities and the work place. Lack of diversity through discrimination has lead to an environment of sexism and racism that affects the workplace and daily lives thus affecting personal development and
Traditionally, diversity refers to an assortment of races, ethnicities, genders, ages, disabilities and perhaps sexual orientations. A definition of diversity, however, should not be constrained by traditional categories such as these. Such a definition should also include categories such as religion, educational level, life experience, geographic location, socio-economic background, marital status and work experience. Indeed, each person employed by a company possesses unique qualities that encompass many factors.
Workforce diversity has become a reality in organizations. More organizations have written workforce diversity policies or programs. Although there is still no consensus on how to define workforce diversity, diversity policies and program are producing positive effects in organizations. Diversity in the workplace is a way of defining acceptable behaviors of employees. Diversity represents all the ways in which individuals are both similar and different. It involves a variation of characteristics such as: age, sex, color, religion, national origin, disability, or any other differences. Although diversity initiatives are common in the workplace today, this is due mainly to the federal government use of constitutional amendments, legislation, and executive orders, along with court decisions to interpret the laws for equal rights (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2010). The way an organization defines diversity and how it manages its diverse workforce may determine its effectiveness.
Companies such as Buzztronics are leading the way in the global economy because of their dedication to diversity in the workplace. In order to build a diverse and successful workforce, a business needs to recruit, train, and retain capable and talented minorities.
In a world that has grown increasingly smaller due to mass media, world travel, and readily available information, the workplace has grown increasingly diverse in both gender and cultural aspects. Individuals no longer live and work within the confines of their geographic locations. At almost any position with any company the individual employee is a part of a larger world economy that harvests assets from the ends of the earth. Because of this, companies seek to capitalize on diversity to become more creative and flexible in their business models.
Diversity issues will gain importance because of the effective interactions and communications between the people. Diversity is the reality of the business world. It can have negative and positive impact on the employee’s behaviour towards work and work results. This also depends on how the employees have understood it and grasps it.